Sanitary device for telephone-mouthpieces.



G. s. BENNETT. SANITARY, DEVICE FOR TELEPHONE MOUTHPIECES.

APPLICATION FILED JAN.16. 1911 1,047,120. Patented Dec. 10. 1912.

3 SHEETSSHEET 1 Witn sses. Inventor,

G. S. BENNETT.

SANITARY DEVICE FORTBLBPHONE MOUTHPIEGES.

' APPLICATION FILED JANJG, 1911.

Patnted Dec. 10, 1912.

3 SHBETSBHEET 2.

Inv n r G. Beymeu.

G. S. BENNETT.

SANITARY DEVICE FOR TELEPHONE MOUTHPIECES.

APPLICATION FILED urns, 1911.

1,047, 1 20. Patented Dec. 10,1912.

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UNITED STATES PATENT ;()FFICE.

GEORGE SEXTON BENNETT, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

SANITARY DEVICE FOR TELEPHONE-MOUTHPIECES.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Gnonen SEXTON BEN- NETT, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at San Francisco, in the county of San Francisco andState of California, have invented anew and useful Sanitary Device forTelephone-Monthpieces, of which the following is a specification in suchfull and clear terms as will enable those skilled in the art toconstruct and use the same.

This invention relates to a sanitary appliance for telephon'es, and itsobject is to prevent the soiling of the telephone mouthpiece whenspeaking into the same.

Another object of the invention is to prevent the use of the telephonewithout changing the paper used to protect the mouthpiece.

Another object of the invention is to provide a device which willautomatically prevent the user from speaking into the telephone withoutfirst setting the apparatus to shift the covering of the mouthpiece andto automatically shift said covering when the receiver is hung up.

Ituvill be understood by those familiar with telephones that it iscommon to provide a hook upon which the receiver is placed when thetelephone is not in use. Upon most of the standard telephones this hookhas come to be a fork upon which the receiver is'plaeed, with theear-piece depending below the same.

It is also to be observed that it is at times necessary to call theattention of the operaton to the telephone being used by the movement ofthe hook, and this invention seeks to apply a tripp ng device to thishook without in any way interfering with the use of the hook in callingthe attention of the operator, and at the same time to provide meanswhereby the paper is shifted over the receiver a given amount.

In the drawings in which the same numeral of reference is applied to thesame portion throughout the several views. Figure 1 is a side elevationof the attachment; Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the atlai-hment; Fig.3 is a side elevation of the attachment looking in the oppositedirection from Fig. 1; Fig 4 is a vertical sectional view, of theoperating gear wheel showing the position of the spring therein; Fig. 5is a side elevation of the operating gear wheel, a portion of the framebeing broken away to show the spring contained there- Specification ofLetters Fatent.

Patented Dec. 10, 1912.

Application filed January 16, 1911. Serial No. 602,919.

in; Fig. 6 is a vertical sectional view of the paper feeding roll: Fig.7 is an end elevation of the paper feeding roll showing the pawl whichholds the roll from operat ing when it has been set; Fig. 8 is an 2ndelevation of the. paper feeding roll showing the pawl which operatessaid roll after the shield has been removed from in front of thetelephone transmitter and the holding pawl released; Fig. 9 is a sideelevation of a portion of the telephone standard showing the means forreleasing the paperfeeding roll; Fig 1.0 is a plan view of the telephonestandard showing the means for relea'sing the paper feeding roll; Fig.11 is a side elevation of the attachment in place upon the telephonetransmitter, showing a portion of said transi'nitter and standard; Fig.12 is a plan view of the bracket used for holding the releasing cord;Fig. 13 is a side elevation of the bracket for holding the releasingcord; Fig. 14 is a side elevation of the apparatus'with a slightlymodified form of operating means; Fig. 14- is a front view in elevationof the paper tension spring which also serves as a spring to place theproper amount of tension on the paper as it is passing under the feedroller, portions thereof being broken away to shorten the figure; Fig.'15 is a View of the forkwvhich passes over the upper end of thetelephone standard; and Fig. 16 is a view of the clamp used to securethe operating spring to the telephone standard.

The numeral 1 represents the base of the paper holding apparatus overwhich extend forwardly four ears 2, 3, 4 and 5. The base 1 is providedwith a central opening (3 which may be placed over the opening in thehead of the ordinary desk telephone, the mouth piece holding said basein place as llustrated in Fig. 11. The two lopver ears 2 and 3 support asmall roller 7 whi h has one end thereof projecting beyond the ears asshown at 8, for an object to he explained later. ln the rear of thissmall roller 7 is a large roller 9 also journaled in the same pair ofears. screws '10 and 11 being screwed into the journal 9' thereof inplace. and preventing the spreading of said ears 2 and 3.

Below the large roih r 9 is pivoted a pro sure plate 12, said platebeing pivoially socured to the ears 2 and 3 by means of a small rod 1 1.This plate 12 has upwardly extending ears ii at each end thereof. andeach ear is provided with a finger 15 upon which bear the ends of aspring 16. This pressure plate bears upon the roller with sutficientpressure to prevent the paper from being pulled back too easily, and yetit permits the roller to slide another length of paper along when thereceiver is hung up.

The large roller 9 is operated by means of a gear wheel 17 supported bya journal 18 above the ournal of the large roller. .This gear isprovided with a spring 19 which tends to rotate the same in the oppositedirection from the movement thereof by the lever 20 secured to thejournal of said gear.

. This lever is prevented from moving more than a given distance bymeans of a stop '21 adjacent said. gear, and by means of the fin gerhold 22 at the lower end of the plate .2. The gear 17 is in mesh with asmall gear 23 secured on the journal of the roller 9 and said journalalso carries a ratchet-wheel J securcd thereto, while the roller has apawl 26 pivoted thereto which is held in engagement with theratchet-wheel by means of a spring 27, also secured to the end of theroller 9. At the opposite end of the roller 9 there-is a ratchet-wheel28 secured rigidly to said roller. The ratchet-wheel is preventedfronrrotating when the receiver is oil the hook by means of a pawl 29pivoted to the ear This pawl is held in engagement with said ratchetwheel by means of a spring 3 secured to the side plate 5 by means of ascrew 31 and the pawl is prevented from moving upwardlymore than a givenamount by means of a small car 32 projecting iii-- wardly from the ear3. This pawl 29 is provided with a small hook 534 in which one end of acord 35 is placed. This cord passes upwardly to a small roller 36journaled on a backwardly extending car 37 at the top of the plate 1,and from here the cord extends downwardly and backwardly over a roller38 ournaled onan arm 39, which is secured on the top of the telephonepost. This last roller has a housinglO to prevent the cord from beingeasily displaced therefrom. When used in connection with the standarddesk telephone instruments, the arm carrying the roller 38 is providedwith an upwardly extending portion at) in which is formed a slot -11 toreceivethe pivot pin of the telephone post.

It will. be noted inFig. 11 the edge of the roller 38 is in line withthe axis of the pivot post of the movable piece of the telephone. Theobject of this is to permit the shifting of the mouth-piece in avertical plane with out altering the length of the cord. The lower endof the cord is secured to a light fork :2 which is pivoted to a securingplate 43, the latter being held firmly on the re ceiver hook by means ofa screw 44: passing below said hook. The rear end of the fork 42 isturned upwardly as shown at as, to prevent said fork from rising. morethan a given amount. The fork is short enough so that it does notinterfere with the 1n ovement of the telephone receiver hook by thefingers, and yet is long enough so that it readily engages the receiverwhen the same is placed upon the hook, and it then trips the pawl at theother end of the chaih.

At the top of the plate 1 the ears 4 and 5 are connected by means of around bar 4-6, said bar also acting as the journal for a latch 47 whichholds the journal 48 of the said latch having two cars 50 which passinto a slit 51 in said journal. This latch is also provided with afinger hold 52, and in order to prevent the latch from turning entirelyaround, the plate 4 is provided witha stop 53.

The paper roll is prevented from turning too rapidly and freely by meansof an extension of the springs which bear upon the friction plate 12 atthe bottom of the plate 1.

The apparatus above described is to prevent soiling the telephonemouthpiece and may be used for that purpose, but since changing thepaper if they can conveniently to prevent the telephone from being usedwithout at the same time setting the apparatus to change the paperautomatically.

oted on an car 56 extending inwardly from the forwardly projecting ear2. The shield comprises a skeleton ring 57, in which is placed a metaldisk 58 for the purpose cl holding a sheet of paper to carry the telephone number and instructions for the use of the sanitary device.

The disk58 is held in place in the-ring 57 by means of three small cars59 which are the pivot point 60 a shield is provided with an arm 6having a forwardly projecting finger 62 which is engaged by a pair ofinwardly projecting arms on a plate (34-. The plate 64E is pivoted onthe same journal as the friction roller 9, and it has upwardly extendingarms 65 and 66 which are engaged by an inwardly projecting pin 67 on thefinger lover.

The plate 64 has an are shaped slot 68 therein through which theextended end acting as a stop for the plate 64.

From the above description it will be seen that the operation of thedevice is as follows: The receiver being upon thehook, the pawl. at theend of the cord is prevented from engaging the adjacent ratchet-wheel,and. thus the spring operating on the large gear wheel is enabled torotate the roller 9 until the linger lever reaches the stop at the upperend of its travel, and so long as the receiver is upon. the "hookftheshield will remain in front of the mouth piece, said paper roll 49 frommoving longitudinally,

many persons will use the telephone without.

do so, itbecomes necessary to provide means This means is the shieldwhich is piv-' of the small roller 7 projects, said roller' bent overthe edge of the disk 58. Below shield being of a metal heavy enough toprevent the user fronrtalking into the tele phone. When the receiver isremoved from the hook, the cord is slackened allowing the pawl to engagethe ratchet wheel at that end of the roller 9. The finger lever may thenbe operated to remove the shield from in front of the mouth-piece. Inthe operation of removing the shield from before the mouth-piece theroller 9 is charged with sufficient energy from the spring to rotate thesame, and at the same time to pull a short length of paper from thepaper feed roll.

\Vhen the telephone has been used a nunr ber of times, any paper hangingbelow may be readily detached and thrown away by being torn off acrossthe back edge of the pressure plate, which may be serrated 'or sharpenedin any desired manner.

It will be understood that while the paper used interferes with the useof the telephone in no my at all, the shield is intended to be ofsutticient thickness and rigidity as to practically prevent the use ofthe telephone without setting the apparatus to place a fresh length ofpaper each time the telephone is used, thus avoiding the danger ofinfection to subsequent users of the telephone.

In Fig. 14 is shown a slightly modified form of the invention. Since itmight be convenient to locate the spring setting device in a place whereit might be conveniently touched by the hand in picking up thetelephone, the setting device shown in that figure may be used.

Tn other respects the apparatus is substantially the same as is shown inthe other views. in the place oi the finger operating handle at the sideof the frame, the small pulley is placed upon the spring journal. and acord is passed about the same and is secured thereto. This pulley has apin 71 which acts as the means for moving the plate til the same as thepin on tl'ie't'orm of the invention shown in the preceding figures, andit is provided with another pin 72 to prevent l'hc spring tl'fllllrotating it more than the linger lever is rotaicd in the precedingl'igurcs. said pin coming against one of the arms of the plate it whichacts a: a stop when the hodom ot' the slot (l8 strikes the screw 8. Fromthispullev the cord TI, is passed upwardly to a pulley Tl on ahackwardly rojecting car T5, and alter passing over said pull y. the crd passe in l'ront. ol' the pulley us on an arm Ti secured todhe lop ol'the telephone post. the same as the pullcy on the other side thercot.This pulley is so placcd that. the point of contact or the cordlhercwiih is in line with the axis of the telephone hcad thus making thedistance between the upper pulley and the lower pulley substantially thesame at all times.

After passing through the lower pulley the cord is connected with oneend of a fork spring 77 which is secured by means of the clamp 78 to thetelephone post. T is spring stands normally the distance of about i ofan inch in front of the telephone post, and

when the latter is picked up, the thumb -is placed upon the spring andpushes the firk' spring back, setting the paper operating mechanism anduncovering the mouthpiece.

The paper is fed through upon hanging up the receiver in the same manneras in the previous form of the invention.

Having thus described my invention what ventthe use of the telephonewhen'said' paper feeding mechanism has been set, and means to removesaid shield from the tele; phone transmitter, substantially asdescribed.

2.111 a sanitary device for telephone t 'ansmitters, a frame adapted tobeattached to a telephone, a paper roll carried thereby, means to. feeda portion of paper across the mouthpiece of the telephone, a shield toprevent the use of said telephone when said paper feeding mechanism hasbeen set, and manual means for removing said shield from in front of thetelephone mouthpiece and setting the paper feeding mechanism when thetelephone is to-he used, substantially as described.

5. Ina sanitary device for telephone transmitters, a frame adapted to beattached to a telephone. a paper roll carried thereby, paper feedingmechanism adapted to carry a length of paper across the mouthpiece ofthe telephone. a shield to prevent the use of said-telcplmnewithoutsetting said paper t'ccd mechanism. means to remove said shieldl'rom in front of the mouthpiece, and means operated by the placement ofthe telephone receiver upon the hook supporting the same to release thcpaper feeding mechanism to feed a length of paper across the mouthpieceand return the shield to its position in front ot' the mouthpiece.substam ially as described.

-l-. In a sanitary device for telephone transmitters. a frame adapted tobe attached to a telephone, a paper roll carried thereby, paper feedingmechanism adapted to carry a length of paper across the telephonelllfllllllliltltk a shield to prevent the use of said tclcphonc withoutsetting said paper feeding mechanism. ma nnal means to remove aid shieldlrom the mouthpiece and set the paper feeding mechanism, and meansopcratcd hy the placement of the receiver upon its hook to release thepaper feeding mechanism to feed a length of paper across said telephonemouthpiece and return the shield to its position in front of the same,substantially as described.

5. In a sanitary device for telephone transmitters, a frame adapted tobe attached across the telephone mouthpiece and t e return of saidshield in front of the same when the user is through with saidtelephone,

substantially as described.

6. In a sanitary device for telephone transmitters, a frame adapted tobe attached to a telephone transmitter, a paper roll carried thereby, apaper feeding roll onv said frame, a spring actuated gear wheel, afinger lever to compress the spring in said gear .and preparesaid paperfeeding roll for movement, a latch to release said paper feeding roll,and a fork upon which the telephone receiver is to be placed, and meansconnecting said fork and the roll holding latch to relcasethe roll whenthe telephone receiver is to be hung up, substantially as described.

7. In a sanitary device for telephone transmitters, a frame adapted tobe attached to a telephone transmitter, a paper roll carried thereby apaper feeding roll carried by said frame, a pivoted shield to preventthe use of said. telephone, means to set the paper feeding rollfor-movement and remove said shield from proximity to the mouthpiece ofsaid telephone, and means connected with the support of the telephonereceiver to release thepaper feed roll and feed a length of paper acrossthe tltlllSIIlltlQl', substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 19th day ofNovember A. D.

.1910, in the presence of the two subscribed witnesses.

GEORGE SEXTON BENNETT. Witnesses:

(ltnannns R. HoL'roN, C. GRIFFIN.

